Chapter 4 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
4.4 RESEARCH METHOD AND RESEARCH DESIGN
4.2.2.2 Secondary objectives
To identify by empirical research the competencies needed for good project management.
To identify from study the leadership styles able to assist in effective project execution.
To investigate and identify best leadership styles needed for successful project management; and create strategies needed to be applied by project managers.
4.2.3 The research questions
The research questions below are derivative of the preceding literature review.
What are the generic competencies required for effective project leadership?
What leadership styles fit into the leadership competencies ideal for project leadership?
4.4.1 Research method
A research process is established to add knowledge and understanding on the topic of the research or phenomena (Jowah, 2012:71) and the main methods that come to mind are;
exploratory research – exploratory research will always help the research to identify and define areas of problems and questions to be asked.
constructive research – constructive research helps with the construction of hypotheses and theories which may be used to suggest solutions.
empirical research – empirical research assists with the testing of practicability by using empirical test.
It might not be that simple to explain the difference between these methods, however in some cases one or two of these methods may be suitable than other methods. A research method is procedure through which a research is conducted, or a process through which a data needed for the ongoing study can be collected, is a response to how the plan will be achieved (Jowah, 2011:66). The preceding methods might suite a research that requires exploratory, descriptive, ex post facto, testing, correlation, sociometric, case studies, instrumental-nomological or interpretative theory. Though this is a theoretical excess, it fits well into action research as it addresses practical problems now making rounds in the project management circles. Action research is accepted as research pertainining to real problems in the real world, and high project failure is a reality in industries across the board. The findings may be used for teaching the subject in class as well as training practitioners during skills development workshops.
A descriptive method of research can be used since it is suitable for the purpose of the survey.
(Kaplan, 2000:517 – 526) This research describes the current situation, even though it is based on views of the professional workers at different ranks and capabilities. A report on the observations can therefore be constructed detailed the relationships of the variables and the explanation of the experience the workers had on subject. Literature review, interviewing workers, conducting a telephonic survey and internet survey are communal methods used to gather data (Kelley, Clark, Brown, Sitzia, 2003:261-266). Although it is inexpensive to gather data through using emails, internet and non-face to face methods (Evans & Mathur, 2005:195- 219, Schonlau, Fricker, & Elliott, 2001:41-53), (Yeung,1995:313-339), in view of the type of this research a necessity for personal interview was identified and decision was taken. (Edwards, Roberts, Clarke, DiGuiseppi, Pratap, Wentz, & Kwan, 2002: 1-9, Yu & Cooper, 1983:36-44) postulates that the personal interviews had a higher low-error- returns benefit when it comes to higher rate of response, answering requests for clarifications, guiding and accelerating the rate of gathering responses. In the beginning a group of focused people was used to help with views
and approaches needed for the construction of the questionnaire, which is the instrument used to do investigation. The decision taken for this research design was influenced by the research methods followed during the study.
4.4.2 Research design
For the purposes of this study “a research design is a plan or blueprint explaining how you intend to conduct the research” (Mouton, 2008:55). This is like the blue print that a house developer needs to get permission to build a house in any municipality area. The local authorities have governing rules and regulations that assist with the developer during the planning of the house. The design recognizes the visualized plan as envisioned by the investigator, just as the plan of the house will, in technical expressions it outlines what would be completed. It outlines the following, selecting sample, the size of the sample, the technique of collecting data, measuring instruments, methodology and ethics (Blumberg, 2008:69). This design assist with the plan and structure of the survey, to ensure feasibility and maximize deliverable valid results. It may be necessary to present the design types of research designs.
Figure 4.1 below illustrates these different types.
Figure 4.1: A typology of research design types (Source: Mouton, 2008:57)
The outcomes of the undertaking research are influenced by combining the research design and method, however there is a need for congruency among them. The chosen design results from combined methods of research, since the study was more descriptive and partially exploratory.
Quantitative and qualitative research designs were considered before earlier before making a choice. A combination of the two was decided for because of the benefits emanating from the two seemingly opposed designs.
Quantitative research: focuses on the numbers and seeks to draw relationships through empirical results. This helps with explanation of phenomenon and their relationships.
The method use statistical approaches, could be correlative, and could be based on or use experiment, or involve descriptions (survey), and descriptive research method was used as it became important to set up causative relations among variables in the research.
Qualitative research: can generally be used for survey and portrayal of behaviour of individuals and their motives around the behaviour, open ended (broad) questions served to synthesise data collected to help with a description of population in the absence of determining the quantity of variables. It was not expected to test hypothesis as that is its limitation since it uses small samples and would be the best for exploratory research.
4.4.2.1 Methods used for literature review
Accredited scholars who have published their works in journals, textbooks, conferences papers and doctoral thesis comprised of the source for literature review. The publication materials was sourced, relevant reviewed contributions from the literature survey helped in formulating research questions and compiling a complete chapter of literature review for this dissertation (Blumberg, 2008:86). Undeniably, few publications controverted one another and raised questions for the research and a reason for further research. The literature review helped largely in forming the background of the problem and deciding on the topic of the thesis.
This helped to understand the specific problems encountered by leaders in pursued of effective leadership on the level of operation in projects and the organization. Accordingly, a decision was taken on a research design which is suitable to offer a better understanding and methods of establishing a effectiveness on project leadership.
4.4.2.2 The survey
Kypri, Gallagher and Cashell-Smith as cited by Jowah (2013:209) recommend that using survey is in effect a better method of collecting data and statistics in social sciences. Questionnaires were constructed and used for the survey and a random selection of sample of employees (comprise of projects based operations staff) was completed to collect information. The population sampling theory was considered for this method of survey, and the review was proved ideal for a number of reasons, Jowah (2012:90) cites numerous reasons that should be considered for the purposes of using the personal interviews with questionnaires, namely;
contact directly the individuals who are experiencing problems in the project leadership
understand by asking the project team what limitations they have in the organization
the skill that could be used to gather the information from the projects
saving time and money since the project have starting and ending dates and limited costs
make certain of successful gathering of information when using data collecting instrument
upsurge on the rate of responses by interviewing practitioners directly
survey method allow the testing of numerous variables and hypothesis
The respondents were not told what style of leadership they were choosing, except they responded to specific characteristics of leadership styles as found in existing literature.
4.4.2.3 Characteristics of the population
The population under survey was that of project managers, leaders and subordinates in engineering firms. There are racial complexities that would not be representative of population in the survey, major racial groupings in the workplace were; blacks, Indians, coloured and whites.
The leadership dynamic forces incline more in the direction of the male leaders than females.